How to answer flawed reasoning questions on the LSAT
Flawed reasoning questions on the LSAT are designed to test how well you can identify flaws in arguments. They’re usually preceded by an argument that is flawed, but not all of them are. Flawed reasoning questions can also be followed by two or more statements that present plausible explanations for how the conclusion might be true. These statements may seem equally likely at first glance, but one of these statements contains a flaw, and it’s up to you to find it. Here’s how:
1) Read the argument carefully before reading any other statement
2) Identify what type of flaw is present in the argument (beyond just being logically wrong).
3) Match up each point with its corresponding explanation from the answer choices.
For example, consider this argument:
“The director of the new film is primarily known for making genre films; therefore his upcoming film will be a comedy.”
The flaw here is that how good an artist someone is at something has no bearing on what type of art they create next. It would most likely need to contain the assumption that how good someone is at something has some bearing on what type of art they create next.
This could also be called the “reasoning” flaw. So, our answer would look like this:
(A) The director’s upcoming film will not necessarily be a comedy because how well he does in one genre does not indicate how he will do in another.
(B) The director’s upcoming film will not necessarily be a comedy because how good an artist someone is at something has no bearing on what type of art they create next.
(C) It would most likely need to contain the assumption that how good someone is at something, like making genre films, does have some bearing on how good they are at another, like making art films.
(D) It would most likely need to contain the assumption that how well someone does in one genre has some bearing on how they do in another.
(E) There is no flawed reasoning here.
This is a great example of how you can quickly eliminate answer choices by looking for how to answer flawed reasoning questions on the LSAT.
